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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 11 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 9 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 6 |
| 1892 | 17 |
| 1893 | 16 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 13 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1899 | 9 |
| 1903 | 10 |
| 1904 | 7 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
170 stories matching spectacl
- A Controversial Screening in Spokane
The film adaptation of a white supremacist narrative begins its engagement at the Auditorium Theater, marketed as a major record-breaking spectacle.
- The Bear Who Drank the Molasses: A Lumber Camp Disaster
A hungry black bear broke into a West Branch Lumber Company supply shed in Washington's Cascade Mountains, getting hopelessly stuck in a keg of molasses and becoming a spectacle for the workers.
- The Zoo Proprietor and the Imaginary Beast
A skeptical showman gets a lesson in 'scientific' bluster from a tall, blue-spectacled visitor.
- The New Order at City Hall
As a new Democratic administration takes control of Seattle in 1892, Mayor J.T. Ronald pledges to end the 'barbarous spectacle' of chain gangs and clean up the city's corrupt contracting practices.
- The Great Evergreen: Seattle’s First Snow in Sixteen Years
Residents gather on rooftops and streets to witness a rare winter spectacle, as snow blankets the city for the first time since 1890.
- The Big Watch and Spectacle Fire Sale
After a brush with insolvency, a Seattle merchant pivots to an aggressive clearing-out sale of watches and musical instruments.
- The Human Deck of Cards
A society spectacle at the Armory features 52 people dressed as playing cards in a meticulously choreographed dance that ended in a 'living' game of whist.
- The Church Fair Scandal: When Seattle’s Clergy Played Prank on a Congregation
A reverend and his colleagues turned a charity fundraiser into an elaborate joke, dressing two women in 'shabbily' clothes to perform a 'Irish spectacle'—only for the punchline to backfire spectacularly.
- The Day the Circus Rolled into Seattle
Thousands flocked to the depot in 1885 to witness the grand arrival of John Robinson’s circus, a massive production that brought exotic animals and high-wire spectacle to the nascent town.
- The Town's Growing Pains
A wave of petty crime in Aberdeen leads to the arrest of five men, highlighting the social tensions of a city suddenly flooded with transient workers.
- The Governor-Candidate Who Handed Out His Own Petitions
In a display of political informality that shocked Olympia, a candidate for territorial governor took to the streets to personally solicit signatures, defying the expected decorum of the era.
- The Tragedy of the Pigeon-Toed Dude
A brief, biting observation from the Seattle Press on the shifting aesthetics of late 19th-century masculinity and fashion.
- The Burning Monuments of Snohomish
Two massive, blazing cedar trees lit up the night sky, transforming a local forest fire into a spectacular public display for the riverfront town.
- Forest Fire Near Port Angeles
A careless picnic party triggers a massive blaze that destroys timber between Port Angeles and Port Crescent.
- A Pugilistic Showdown at the Machine Shop
A staged prizefight between two local heavyweights turns into a public spectacle.
- The Cosmic Illusion at the Seattle Theatre
A scientific lecture turned spectacular, the 'Urania' show brings the moon and the stars to downtown Seattle through the magic of electricity and stagecraft.
- The Most Expensive Film in the Northwest
Dr. H. S. Clemmer pays a record-breaking $20,000 to bring the controversial film 'The Birth of a Nation' to the local theater.
- The Great Egyptian Mystery: Seattle’s Firefighters Raise Funds with a Spectacle of Living Slides
At Yesler's Hall this evening, the city gathers not for news or politics, but to watch 'living people dissolve into air' in aid of the volunteer fire department.
- The Great Seattle Fire Tournament: A Spectacle of Steam and Sweat
As the city prepares for a historic gathering of fire companies from across the Northwest, the rules are set, the hydrants are tested, and the stakes are high.
- Inferno in the Olympics
Citizens gather on Church Hill in Port Angeles to watch a massive timber fire burning in the Olympic Mountains.
- The Leap Year Ball of Black Diamond
When the mining town’s social calendar was handed over to the ladies, the town hall erupted in a celebration to fund a Japanese-themed wedding spectacle.
- The Schoolhouse Mutiny
When an empty Seattle schoolhouse became a playground for neighborhood boys, a mild prank turned into a local spectacle of adolescent mischief.
- The Morbid Crowds at the Morgue
A double murder-suicide sparks a frenzy of gawking in Seattle.
- The War of the Everett Editors
An arrest for criminal libel turns into a public spectacle as two rival newspaper editors battle over a municipal bridge contract.
- The High Stakes of 1878: A Seattle Sunday Outing
Before the city’s rapid industrialization, residents looked to the local race track for leisure, with the railroad offering half-fare tickets to draw crowds to the spectacle.